Exploring Italy’s Scientific and Cultural Heritage: A Journey from Trieste to Venice

Three PhD students, Min LONG, Menghan SONG, and Ting-Tung WANG, from the group of Professor Zi Yang MENG in the Department of Physics, embarked on a scientific journey at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy, last December. Below, they share their experiences of exchanging knowledge and exploring the rich history and culture of Trieste and Venice.

Trieste: A City of Borders and History

Trieste is a port city that once served as the main sea gate of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Today, the empire is gone, and the city is Italian, but its unique identity persists. The architecture reflects its imperial past, with grand, sombre buildings from the Habsburg era facing the waterfront. The piazzas are wide and open to the sea breeze, and historic cafés invite you to enjoy coffee amid a blend of influences – more reminiscent of Vienna than Rome. The light is Adriatic, but the soul is mixed, reflecting a city of borders and changed maps.

Sculpture in Piazza Unità d'Italia

In December 2025, we visited the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP). The Centre is a cluster of functional buildings on the outskirts of Trieste. Founded by the late Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam and Italian physicist Paolo Budinich, it is a hub for scientists from all over the world, especially those from developing countries. It is a tranquil place with plain corridors and a slow pace. Here, we participated in a two-week Advanced School and Conference on Quantum Matter. The event intertwined pedagogical lectures from the school and conference-style talks on Quantum Spin Liquids.  

At ICTP, we had enriching conversations with research scientists Marcello Dalmonte, Yin Ran, and Cenke Xu. Topics ranged from cutting-edge hybrid Monte Carlo simulations of fractional quantum Hall states—platforms for quantum computation—to the intricate techniques of entanglement microscopy that reveal the deep organising principles governing many-particle systems. A highlight was the exploration of the Chiral graviton—a phenomenon akin to ripples in the emergent internal geometry of the electronic universe—and its realisation in the fractional Chern insulator. These fruitful exchanges have already led to our recent preprint, Chiral Graviton Modes in Fermionic Fractional Chern Insulator, and we anticipate further collaborations, including a forthcoming visit to HKU by an Italian scholar.

 

Many distinguished Chinese physicists, such as Xi Dai and Lu Yu, have worked at ICTP. They did important work and helped facilitate knowledge exchange with their home institutions. ICTP has served as a bridge, facilitating knowledge exchange through sustained, dedicated work. In the cafeteria, a dozen languages mingle, unified by the language of physics. It is a truly inspiring place.

 

The Grand Canal

The ICTP campus

 

From Trieste to Venice: A Coastal Journey

From Trieste, we took a two-hour train ride along the coast to Venice.

Venice is unlike any other city. Stepping out of the station, you are greeted by the water of the Grand Canal. There are no cars, only boats. The city is built on millions of wooden pilings driven into the mud of the Venetian Lagoon. Once a powerful maritime republic, its wealth is evident in landmarks like the Doge’s Palace and the Basilica, with gold accents and ornate ceilings. Yet, the true essence of Venice lies in its small details.

While in Venice, we took a boat out to Murano, the island famed for glassmaking. Watching a master shape molten glass into a delicate horse in just minutes revealed the skill and artistry behind this ancient craft. Back in the city, the streets are canals. The sidewalks are narrow. We crossed small bridges and passed shops displaying traditional Venetian Carnival masks—some simple white, others gilded with long beaks. These masks were once worn during festivals to conceal identity, allowing people to step outside their usual roles. Today, they are mostly made for tourists, but they still carry a sense of the city’s old mystery.

From left: Menghan Song, Ting-Tung Wang and Min Long

As the light faded, the crowds departed on their boats, and the city quietened. We could hear the water lapping against the ancient stones. We found a small place to eat—simple fare of fish, pasta, and house wine.

The next day, on the return train along the coast, we reflected on the two cities. Trieste, solid and serious on its land, is focused on fundamental questions about the universe. Venice, floating on its borrowed time, stands as a beautiful relic of the past. Both are real, and both tell a true story.

That, in itself, is enough.